Pulse Asia: 90% of Filipinos exposed to fake political news

Around 90% of Filipinos have read and/or watched fake political news while 86% believe false or fake news is a problem in the country, a Pulse Asia poll released Tuesday showed.

The Pulse Asia survey, conducted September 17 to 21, also showed that 26% of the respondents have read, heard, and/or watched false news about government and politics a few times a week, 25% experienced the same a few times a month, and 21% at least once a day.

Meanwhile, those who have read, heard, and/or watched fake political news once a week reached 17%, while 10% of Filipino adults are not aware of untrue news regarding government and politics.

At least 58% of the respondents said social media influencers, bloggers, and/or vloggers are top peddlers of fake news about government and politics, followed by journalists at 40%, and national level politicians at 37%.

Local politicians ranked fourth among alleged sources of false information about government and politics at 30%, followed by civic leaders/NGO leaders at 15%, businessmen at 11% and academics, professors or teachers at 4%.

The remaining 1% went to friends/acquaintances at .4%, neighborhood/ordinary citizens at .3% and New People's Army at .1%.

Those who don't know the sources of false information accounted for 2%.

Respondents also identified either social media or the internet (68%) or television (67%) as their source of fake news about government and politics.

At least 55% of the respondents expressed confidence in the ability of Filipinos to ascertain the truthfulness of political news they hear, read, and/or watch while 37% said they cannot say if their fellowmen can spot a fake news, and 7% lacks confidence in the ability of other people to determine the truth in what they hear or watch.

The Pulse Asia survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews based on a sample of 1,200 respondents 18 years old and above.

It has a ± 2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level.

Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey have the following error margins at 95% confidence level: ± 5.7% for Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.—AOL, GMA News